About Rikers Island
Rikers Island is a 413 acre complex in New York’s East River that can accommodate up to 15,000 detainees. Consisting of ten jails, the facility is mainly used to hold local offenders serving short sentences as well as those awaiting trial who have been placed there temporarily. The vast majority of inmates are people of color who come from a background of poverty. The recidivism rate is 66%. For those participating in GOSO programs, this figure drops to below 15%.
The facility has a reputation for violence including the abuse and neglect of inmates, and in October 2019 the New York City Council voted to shut the facility by 2026.
By User Sfoskett on en.wikipedia: cropped by Beyond My Ken (talk) 01:56, 11 April 2017 (UTC) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57908935
About Getting Out Staying Out
Getting Out and Staying Out was born in 2004, after retired businessman, Mark Goldsmith, visited Rikers Island as a volunteer Principal for the Day. His visit proved so popular and inspiring to the inmates that he was invited to return on a regular basis. Goldsmith founded the non-profit GOSO to bring successful people to Rikers Island to coach the young men detained there, to educate the detainees and provide them with valuable life skills that they could use upon their release, and to mentor and coach the young men as they returned to the community.
In subsequent years, GOSO has established a re entry model that promotes education (both academic and vocational training), employment (providing job readiness training as well as employment assistance) and emotional well being. GOSO supports young men from the day they are incarcerated right up until they are fully integrated back into the community working, furthering their education, and creating new and productive lives for themselves and their families.